Jonathan Tannenwald

Philly.com

This week's Schuylkill 16 poll results will not be published until tomorrow because not enough people voted. Which is too bad, because we might actually have a competition this week. But I don't know for sure, because I didn't bother tallying the point totals.

Granted, one of our voters has spent the whole day stalking the Monday Night Football broadcast crew. But I was really looking forward to accepting an offer made this afternoon by Dan Steinberg, whose Atlantic 11 poll is also suffering from a lack of democracy.

Mr. Sports Bog, who likes the Philadelphia sports scene far more than you think his Washington Post colleagues do, is "thinking about selling these unused D.C. voting slots to Philly fans on Craigslist."

I thought we'd be up to the challenge, but I guess not. Alas.

So instead of discussing poll results, discuss this piece on ESPN.com that my Philly.com colleague (and Eagles live-blogger) Sheil Kapadia sent along this afternoon. Auburn alumnus Charles Barkley has blasted his alma mater for not hiring an African-American football to replace Tommy Tuberville.

This was a topic of some discussion while I was at Mitchell and Ness this afternoon to watch the live broadcast of Mike Tirico's radio show. Tirico and his co-host-by-satellite, Scott Van Pelt, agreed that while the lack of African-American head coaches in college football is a very serious problem, you can't hire one just to hire one if he isn't qualified.

I am inclined to agree with them, but I would point out one other example of a coaching change that is even more problematic.

I realize that Mississippi State got blown out in this year's Egg Bowl by Houston Nutt's Mississippi. But from everything I've ever seen and read, Sylvester Croom brought the Bulldogs program many miles forward and was a really classy guy too.

And since Croom knows the SEC pretty well, why wasn't he ever discussed for the Auburn job?

If any of you out there follow this stuff too, please share your thoughts.

Oh, and Cleveland State just beat Syracuse, 72-69, at the Carrier Dome.